Board of the Pension Protection Fund Acquires 8,400 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund lifted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 158.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,700 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund's holdings in General Mills were worth $819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in General Mills by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,341 shares of the company's stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,004,777 shares of the company's stock worth $255,385,000 after buying an additional 207,346 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 25,566 shares of the company's stock worth $1,630,000 after buying an additional 6,203 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in General Mills by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 5,602 shares of the company's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Convergence Financial LLC raised its position in General Mills by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Convergence Financial LLC now owns 4,318 shares of the company's stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GIS. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.50.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $50.38 on Friday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $54.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.47. The stock has a market cap of $27.77 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.02. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.24 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.84%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.75%.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.